The Roman Senate in the Fourth-Century Empire.

Rita Lizzi Testa’s Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity is a unique and refreshing analysis of the role played by the Roman senate in the fourth-century empire. Instead of composing a connected narrative, Lizzi Testa offers us a collection of nine case studies that highlight the various ways in which Roman elites were able to influence governmental policy and imperial appointments during the later empire. Throughout these studies, the author challenges traditional scholarly views on the nature of the relationship between the senatorial aristocracy and Roman emperors. Rather than disappearing during the third century and being replaced by equestrians, especially in the military, many prominent families of venerable pedigree remained important throughout the fourth and later centuries. Lizzi Testa also notes that, despite their differing religious affiliations, Christian emperors, such as Constantine, maintained good relations with the pagan aristocracy of Rome and continued to employ them in their administrations by appointing them to prominent imperial posts. In addition, Constantine expanded the ranks of the senate by instituting a new procedure whereby the holders of certain high imperial offices were advanced to senatorial rank, thereby making merit and not birth the basis of senatorial membership. This practice did not adversely impact the position of the older noble families of Rome and in fact was a way for Constantine to harness all the prominent elite families of the empire for use in his regime. By promoting a ruling class consisting entirely of senators, Constantine restored significant governmental and administrative power to this body. He also granted tax exemptions to the leaders of the major religious communities, Christian, pagan, and Jewish, as a means of further bolstering his support among the Roman elite, policies which were continued by his successors.

In later chapters, Lizzi Testa continues to argue for the continuing relevance of the old Roman aristocracy by showing the many ways in which it was able to retain its ancient privileges and have an impact on imperial politics throughout the post-Constantinian era. Such political strategies included the use of social network links to collaborate with each other in order to advance their own careers and those of their children and relatives, especially when it came to competing with the newer members of the senatorial order, so as to obtain direct access to the court and emperor. Far from being reduced to a mere municipal council, the late Roman senate, which constituted the most powerful and influential families of the empire, played an active role in imperial governance as emperors were forced to rely upon it to assist them in the running of a vast world-wide state. The senate’s function was crucial as it served to create consensus among the Roman elite and provided a pool of talent for emperors to draw upon in order to staff the greatly increased number of imperial offices in the Roman state, which by the late fourth century numbered as many as 20,000. Ultimately, no emperor could be successful without the cooperation of the senate. Additional chapters also include discussion of such topics as the historical value of the literary output of the prominent pagan senator Q. Aurelius Symmachus, the continuing predilection of the pagan aristocracy for the practice of haruspicy, which was a useful tool for influencing the mood of the populace, the political reasons for self-censorship in the historical writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, the politics of the Altar of Victory affair, the religious motives behind the senate’s role in the usurpation of Priscus Attalus in the fifth century, and the aristocratic pedigree of St. Valentine. Overall, Lizzi Testa’s work is a more nuanced view of the activities of the later Roman elite and is a valuable contribution to the growing body of Late Antique studies.

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